1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an input control system for controlling a coordinate input section for the entry of coordinate data on the screen and a switch input section, and particularly to an input control system capable of setting with a control section function of switches arbitrarily which constitute a switch input section.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Conventional computers of the notebook type employ input systems (controllers) which are of the pad type or the stick type for example. These input systems are equipped, in addition to the input pad or input stick, with a switch input section which compares with click keys of a mouse device.
In the pad type, the user slides a fingertip on a flat pad which is located near a keyboard, thereby entering commands to move a displayed pointer (cursor) in the x-axis and y-axis directions on the plane of the screen. The user can have another operation, such as patting the upper section of the pad with a fingertip, thereby entering commands pertinent to the z-axis direction. In case there are click keys provided, these keys function mainly as the right and left click keys of the mouse device.
Switches of the conventional input system have their functions and operational manners fixed mostly, and individual users are not allowed to have operational manners fitted to their own purposes.
For example, for a vertical scroll of the screen based on a pad-type input system, the user slides a fingertip vertically within the area of a certain x-wise width at the edge of the pad, so that the screen is scrolled by the amount of sliding detected in the y-axis direction. Alternatively, the user slides a fingertip on the input pad to move the pointer to coincide with the scroll bar and pushes the click key to move the slider.
However, the scroll operation by sliding a fingertip on the input pad compels the user to make sliding a number of times for a large amount of scrolling, and the slider moving operation by positioning the pointer to the scroll bar compels the user to operate the input pad and click key simultaneously. Nevertheless, these are only manners of scrolling, and users have no other means of screen scrolling.
As described above, the conventional input systems have their associated device functions fixed mostly, and the user's choice for the setting of device functions is limited even though their operational manners are intricate.